How they gonna SLIDE that thing UNDER the ship?
“How they gonna SLIDE that thing UNDER the ship?”
They almost certainly will not. My bet is that they will lighten the minesweeper until it floats. (Add pumps to ensure water goes out faster than it comes in.) and then tow it off the reef. THEN they put it on the lift ship.
It is also likely they are waiting until there is a lift ship to put it on before refloating it. That bit about pumping water out faster than it flows in is simple, but not easy. Or it might simply take time to lighten the Guardian and make the patches they need to make before attempting to refloat the ship.
Nor it is unusual for the navy to hire lift ship. Having their own lift ship would require a crew that could otherwise be assigned to a warship. A navy lift ship would sit around idle most of the time unless contracted to civilian work. In which case, the ship would be primarily used for commerical, not naval, activities, and we know what it is like when the government attempts to run a commercial business.
Historically, train operations and logistics (both naval and military) were contracted out to civilians. It was only during the age of conscription (call it 1870-1970) that those activities were run by naval and military personnel. In an era of professional naval and military it makes more sense to ship that kind of stuff back to civilians.